“You smell like smoke,” Kyungsoo points out while they walk to meet up with Yixing and Yifan for lunch.

     “Huh?” Jongin lifts his arm to smell his shirt and finds that Kyungsoo's statement is true. He supposes that's what he gets for smoking with Sehun almost every night now. “Oh, I was over at Sehun's house before I came over.” Well it isn't a lie.

     “Sehun smokes?” Kyungsoo asks, frowning.

     “No, his grandmother does,” Jongin says, hoping his voice doesn't give away that he was lying. He's hated lying. He was never much good at it.

     “She should stop. Smoking is like signing up for lung cancer,” Kyungsoo says, moving a little closer to Jongin and squinting off into the distance to see a tall head poking out from the crowd of a bustling street. “I see them,” Kyungsoo says, smiling, and pulls Jongin a little faster.

     They spend the next two hours talking about sports, dance, recipes, weather, and anything else that comes to mind. Jongin likes it, the freedom. He likes being able to talk freely without feeling judged or questioned like with his parents and occasionally Sehun.

     Sehun comes to his mind and he feels guilty about smiling and laughing and knowing that his life is great. Suddenly he doesn't feel like laughing anymore.

     “What was China like?” Jongin asks, blowing smoke out of his mouth. Sehun stops scrolling through his phone for a split second before continuing.

     “Confusing.”

     “Really? How?” Jongin doesn't hear the discomfort in Sehun's words so he doesn't stop.

     “The language, mostly. Then there were weird rules in school, stuff like that.”

     “How did you manage?”

     “I had help.”

     Jongin nods, taking in the brief information. “Why did you go to China in the first place?”

     “Reasons. Why are you thinking of moving?” Sehun asks, peering up from his phone to look at Jongin.

     “No, just curious. I talk with you all the time, but feel like I don't know you.”

     “There's nothing to know,” he replies shortly, continuing his infatuation with whatever was on his phone.

     “Nothing? Really? You don't pee your bed at night? Don't still pick your nose?”

     Sehun laughs. “You got me.”

     “But really,” Jongin says putting the cigarette to his lips and blowing the smoke out the open window, “nothing?”

     Sehun locks his phone and looks at Jongin with blank eyes. “What do you want me to tell you? That I have some huge hidden secret? That I'm dying of some rare, incurable disease?” He coughs. “Well I'm not. I'm just boring, old Sehun.”

     The room is silent and Jongin is afraid to move under Sehun's eyes. “Why did you go to China?”

     Suddenly Sehun's stern face looks tired and sad. “I think it's time for you to leave.”

     “You need to stop hanging around Sehun's grandmother so much, you reek,” Kyungsoo says, sitting up from his position of previously lying on Jongin's chest.

     “Sorry,” Jongin replies, thankful for Kyungsoo's naivety.

     “So I got my schedule today,” Kyungsoo says, his face lighting up like a Christmas tree. “And guess what?”

     “What?” Jongin asks, feeling giddy even though the news hasn't been told yet.

     “I got into chorus!” Kyungsoo grins even wider than Jongin thought was possible, and his face imitates Kyungsoo's.

     “Soo, that's great!” he says giving him a kiss on the lips. “You've been wanting that since our first year!” Kyungsoo grins again, and Jongin can't help but feel proud of his boyfriend. “We could always see right now how high you can go,” Jongin jokes, giving a suggestive look towards him. Kyungsoo laughs and hits his arm.

     “Maybe another time, I'm meeting Baekhyun for coffee to talk about our plans for starting an acapella club.” Kyungsoo gives him another kiss on the lips before getting off the bed and leaving.

     Jongin decides to leave Sehun alone for a few nights, choosing instead to work on dance routines and talking to Kyungsoo. On the third night, however, his craving for a cigarette is too much and he climbs over and into the ever open window.

     “Hey,” he says. Sehun looks up from his phone and gives a nod of acknowledgment before going back to doing whatever on his phone.

     Jongin makes his way over to Sehun's nightstand drawers where the familiar carton of cigarettes is and he pulls one out, handing another to Sehun who accepts it. He lights them both and then takes his usual spot on the window seat next to the window he entered from.

     “I'm sorry about the other night,” Jongin starts after a few minutes. He blows a puff of smoke out and looks over at Sehun who seems uninterested.

     “It's whatever,” Sehun replies, the light from his phone casting a dim lighting over his tired face.

     “I didn't mean to pry, I was just curious. It wasn't my place to ask about stuff you didn't want to talk about,” Jongin continues. He puts the cigarette to his lips again and inhales the smoke and holds it for a few seconds before blowing it out towards the ceiling.

     Sehun doesn't reply and Jongin finds it frustrating. It's how their relationship works. Jongin puts in the effort to start conversations and Sehun ends them in three words or less.

     Jongin finishes his cigarette a few minutes later, stubbing it out in one of the makeshift ash trays scattered around the room. “School's starting in a few weeks, do you know what classes you have?” Jongin asks, breaking the silence.

     “Nope.”

     “Are you going to find out?”

     “Nope.”

     “Are you even going to attend them?”

     “Nope.”

     “Sehun-”

     “Look, Jongin, as far as I'm concerned, I left my life in China. Anything here is just optional to me.”

     Jongin looks at Sehun before standing up and dusting imaginary dust off of his pants. “I'll see you later, Sehun.”

      The next time they meet, Jongin is there at noon with a basket ball.

     “Wake up,” Jongin says, ripping off Sehun's blankets.

     “ off,” Sehun says muffled into his pillow.

     “We're going to play basketball with some people, let's go.”

     Sehun doesn't reply and Jongin wonders if he went back to bed.

     “Sehun-”

     “Jongin, go the back to sleep. It's not time to play sports.”

     “Sehun, it's nearly one in the afternoon. It's not time to still be sleeping.”

     Sehun doesn't reply again, only peeks his head out from his pillow to glance out the window. “Still too early.”

     “Don't make me drag you out of this bed, Sehun.”

     Sehun's eyes slid over to Jongin's slowly. “You wouldn't.”

     “Watch me.”

     Sehun lets out a noise of frustration and pushes himself up, grabbing a towel off of a chair and walking out of the room to the bathroom.

     “Hey babe,” Kyungsoo says, giving him a peck on the lips as Jongin enters the park's basketball court.

     Jongin bounces the ball and clears his throat to call the attention of a distracted Yixing and Yifan and Jongdae, one of Kyungsoo's friend from choir. They all look at them, Yifan and Yixing's hands still intertwined.

     “Guys,” he says, motioning for Sehun to come closer, “this is Sehun.”

     Sehun gives a small bow, waving sheepishly. “Hello.”

     “Hi Sehun, it's nice to finally meet you. Jongin mentions you a lot, I'm glad you've been treating him well,” Kyungsoo says.

     The rest of the party welcomes him and soon all six of them are busy playing an intense round of basketball. Yixing, Jongin, and Sehun are on one team while Yifan, Kyungsoo, and Jongdae are on the other, and Jongin finds the height of Yifan to be difficult, especially when he defends. He's used to it, and usually just passes the ball to Yixing who is more than capable of distracting the giant and getting around him. Jongin blocks Kyungsoo, whispering sweet nothings into his ear to distract him and while it works ninety percent of the time, the doe eyed boy has gotten used to it and just laughs and passes it over to Jongdae who attempts to get a basket through Sehun who, to Jongin's surprise, is good at this game.

     The score ends with Jongin's team winning and Yifan blames it on Jongdae who blames it on Kyungsoo for being too distracted.

     “We're just good,” Jongin says, slinging his arm around Yixing's neck. He looks around for Sehun and finds him off on the sidelines looking at his phone again, typing something in before locking it and looking up to meet Jongin's curious gaze. He stuffs his phone in in his pocket, and walks back over to them. “My grandma asking me to buy milk while I'm out,” he explains. Jongin nods, knowing full well that his grandma can hardly work the television, much less a cell phone, but doesn't pry.

     “While we're all here, why don't we go out for some patbingsu?” Kyungsoo suggests, sliding his hands into Jongin's.

     This is how Jongin spends his last few days of summer. Lunch dates and games with Kyungsoo and Yixing, and late night smokes with Sehun who still looks as tired as ever.